It's Up To YOU To Tell Hockey Canada What To Do

Every time the public discourse turns its attention to a child sexual abuse scandal, we have an opportunity.

And every time, it seems that we miss our chance to capitalize.

What I’ve learned from business coaches and change makers, is that a Call to Action is essential for moving a conversation (or behaviour) towards change.

If you’ve participated in a webinar, or watched a video, or live presentation, you will see that after delivering interesting and (theoretically) valuable content, the speaker will ALWAYS end with a Call to Action.

Call me for more information.

Buy this product now.

Sign up for this free thing.

A good presentation always ends with a directive. What does the speaker want the listener to do next?

When Canadians discovered that Hockey Canada had created a fund to settle allegations of sexual assault or abuse, the news cycle was full of condemnation.

As an advocate, I listened to what people were saying about the scandal.

The outcry about Hockey Canada read (and sounded) something like this:

Do better.

This is wrong.

We’re disappointed.

This is awful.

Yes, we can all agree that having a fund to cover expenses for allegations of sexual assault is not what we want.

But what is the call to action? What do we want?

If we can’t tell Hockey Canada exactly what they should be doing to ‘be better’, how can we blame them for not knowing what ‘better’ looks like?

If Canadians want Hockey Canada to do better, then it is up to us to tell them, specifically, what we want them to do. 

Voicing outrage and dissatisfaction is understandable, but to really make an impact, this was/is our chance to give Hockey Canada a directive.

In the absence of a good call to action, people fruitlessly revisit frustration and disgust. Until the entire board steps down.

But now what? Who is going to lead the change we all want?

For all the media attention that this scandal has received, there is one word that was decidedly missing from almost every article I encountered about Hockey Canada.

The word child.

And what’s wrong with that, you might ask?

Without that word, it’s too easy for adults to think that this is a story about adults.

It’s not.

This is a story about children.

This is a story about what happens when children are not protected from sexual abuse.

Junior hockey players, the players who are involved in several of the sexual assault allegations, are between 16 and 20 years old.

16 year olds are children.

17 year olds are children.

18 year olds have been children for 94% of their lives.

19 year olds have been children for 89% of their lives.

Do you see what I’m getting at?

If we can’t recognize that 1) these are children, and 2) adults are responsible for children, how can we even begin to come up with a solution?

Many of these players have been a part of Hockey Canada teams and culture since they were born.

They start playing when they are 3 years old, and they increasingly are playing on teams all. year. long.

Many of them have older siblings and parents who played, so they’ve basically been saturated in hockey culture for their entire lives.

We’ve heard enough stories about hockey players experiencing sexual abuse to know that it’s been a problem, it is a problem, and until something changes, it will continue to be a problem.

Yes, the entire Hockey Canada board has stepped down.

Unfortunately, this creates a false sense of accomplishment.

People lost their positions of leadership.

Problem solved.

Except the problem has not been solved.

We haven’t even figured out what the problem is.

I know, I’m like a broken record constantly repeating the same words:

if we want to see a change in organizational culture, it starts with protecting children from sexual abuse.

Every time.

Hockey Canada has no board. An entirely new group of directors are about to be selected to lead this organization. This is our chance to make sure that the new directors are the right directors.

The nominating committee is accepting applications for new board members until November 10, 2022.

We have an opportunity to influence the nominating committee and the members who will select the new Hockey Canada board.

But, this window of opportunity is closing. The deadline to apply to be a board member is November 10, 2022.

I invite you to join Priority Kids in our effort to encourage the Nominating Committee and Hockey Canada members to:

- select board board members who are child advocates.

- select board members who have experience working with transition houses and women’s centres.

- select board members who work at sexual assault centres.

- select board members who are human rights advocates.

These are the people who have the skills needed to create cultural change.

It's up to US to tell Hockey Canada that this is what we want. Specifically.

You can help us send this message to Hockey Canada by sharing this post, and by adding your voice to the narrative.

Talk to your friends and family who are involved in hockey. Call your local hockey clubs, and talk to them about hiring support from our local transition houses, women's centres, sexual assault centres and child advocates.

It's time to invite these experts to the table.